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Climate Progress

Solar Company Used In Crossroads Anti-Obama Attack Ad Received Taxpayer Dollars From Governor Romney

By Rebecca Leber posted from Climate Progress on May 31, 2012 at 4:20 pm

Ads from Mitt Romney and American Crossroads earlier this week disparaged solar energy, leading up to Romney’s surprise visit to Solyndra today.

The Crossroads ad targets the Obama administration for green energy investments, but features a company that once received taxpayer support from Governor Romney’s administration. Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent points out that one company featured in Crossroads’ ad — Evergreen Solar — received $2.5 million during Romney’s term:

The Crossroads video, which is embedded below, cites the Massachusetts company Evergreen Solar as an example of a company that received taxpayer money before declaring bankruptcy or suffering “serious financial issues” — which the video derides as a “risky investment strategy.” Romney picked up that attack line today, appearing in front of a shuttered Solyndra outlet to bash Obama.

But three weeks into Governor Mitt Romney’s term, Evergreen Solar received $2.5 million from the Romney administration for a “major expansion and to cover operating losses as it tried to become profitable,” according to a February article in Politico. The investment was part of a broader program in which the Romney administration gave millions in subsidies to multiple other companies, Politico reported.

Evergreen ultimately filed for bankruptcy last year, making this case very similar to Solyndra. Evergreen’s presence in the Crossroads ad was pointed out by the Obama-allied American Bridge.

In contrast, the New York Times reported in 2011 that “Evergreen has received no federal money.”

Romney’s attacks on Solyndra and clean energy have been misleading and often downright false. The rhetoric on Solyndra veers far from the reality of a loan that Republicans have thoroughly investigated, yet have found no scandal. As the New Republic pointed out Wednesday:

On balance, the White House seems to be playing Wall Street games—if that’s what you want to call massive investment in underfunded public infrastructure—pretty decently, and in a manner that produces more value for the public than private equity firms. Bain and Solyndra are really nothing alike.

Before etch-a-sketching, Romney embraced development of an industry he now says does not deserve investment (meanwhile, he’s silent on Big Oil subsidies).

Security

Report: ‘It Has Been Difficult’ To Differentiate Romney’s Foreign Policy From Obama’s

By Ben Armbruster posted from ThinkProgress Security on May 31, 2012 at 11:59 am

Mitt Romney’s foreign policy is in tatters. His “quite far to the right” advisers are divided. The candidate has a tendency to needlessly “hyperbolize” his rhetoric and his positions on national security issues are often confusing and incoherent — which may explain why some GOP foreign policy experts aren’t hurrying to endorse Romney or why the campaign “doesn’t really want to engage these issues.”

There’s also perhaps another reason. It doesn’t appear that Romney has any idea how to set himself apart from President Obama’s foreign policy, as the Los Angeles Times put it today:

Romney has roughed up Obama with a hawkish tone — at times bordering on belligerent. Yet for all his criticisms of the president, it has been difficult to tell exactly what Romney would do differently.

He has argued that reelecting Obama will result in Iran having a nuclear weapon — without explaining how. He has charged that Obama should have taken “more assertive steps” to force out the repressive regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad — but has said he is not “anxious to employ military action.” He accused Obama of tipping his hand to the Taliban by announcing a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, but also accepts the 2014 timeline.

And it almost seems as if the Romney campaign is looking to Obama for guidance. Soon after a report surfaced that the the Obama administration is considering the approval of arms transfers to Syrian rebels via Arab allies, the former Massachusetts governor announced that he would do the same (however, Obama administration officials publicly oppose militarizing the conflict any further at this point).

The Times points out that one key difference has been on military spending. Obama pushed through nearly $500 billion in cuts over the next ten years (with Congress adding another $500 billion), although military spending will continue to grow in that same period. Romney, however, plans to (needlessly) increase defense spending by nearly $2 trillion with no plan on how he will pay for it.

“A lot is made of Romney’s tough talk with respect to Russia and Iran and China, but even there it’s not like I see a dearth of toughness on the part of President Obama,” Cato Institute foreign policy expert Christopher Preble told the Times. “As a challenger, for someone like Mitt Romney, it really is incumbent on him to draw distinctions and differences. He doesn’t. It allows people to paint with a broad brush [what] they would guess … his response would be.”

Economy

GOP Candidate In Rhode Island Joins Growing List Of Republicans Refusing To Sign Anti-Tax Pledge

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on May 31, 2012 at 10:40 am

Rhode Island GOP Congressional Candidate Brendan Doherty

The Washington Post reported last week that dozens of candidates being promoted by the National Republican Congressional Committee have refused to sign the anti-tax pledge circulated by Americans for Tax Reform and its president, Grover Norquist. The ATR pledge asks Republican candidates to promise never to raise taxes at any time for any reason, but GOPers have been wavering on it in increasing numbers over the last several months.

Joining the list of Republicans not interested in signing Norquist’s pledge is Brendan Doherty, who is running for the seat in Rhode Island’s first congressional district:

“Brendan has not signed the ATR pledge and has no plans to sign it,” Doherty spokesman Robert Coupe told WPRI.com, using the acronym for Norquist’s group, Americans for Tax Reform. [...]

“The premise behind this and similar pledges that seek to tie the hands of candidates and elected officials tends to result in greater division and increased gridlock in Congress, at a time when we need to seek consensus and common-sense solutions,” Coupe said.

“Brendan has called repeatedly for comprehensive tax reform to simplify the tax code, close loopholes and create a tax plan that treats middle class families fairly and allows small businesses to compete and create jobs,” he continued. “That is Brendan’s commitment to the citizens of Rhode Island and his pledge is to provide the real leadership that is needed in Congress right now.”

Of course, Doherty is running in a heavily Democratic district, which may have something to do with his decision to ignore Norquist’s directive. Earlier this year, Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL) blasted the pledge, saying, “I think anybody who doesn’t indicate their willingness to look at revenues — expiration of tax loopholes, tax credits, increase in contribution to Social Security, which is a tax, and otherwise — would be disingenuous and irresponsible.“

NEWS FLASH

Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Says Marco Rubio Is Not Qualified To Be Vice-President | Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a freshman senator with less experience in government than former half-term governor and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is widely viewed as a possible running mate to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In an interview with CNN’s John King, however, one of President Bush’s top lieutenants threw cold water on this idea, saying Rubio is not qualified for the nation’s number two job. According to Gonzales, “Wisdom comes from experience. It comes from living. It comes from success. It comes from failure, and I just think that the country needs to have people in positions of leadership who have that level of experience that’s important to serve effectively as president and as vice-president.” Watch it:

Justice

NEW DATA: Elections Supervisors Throughout Florida Confirm U.S. Citizens Improperly Included In Voter Purge

By Josh Israel and Adam Peck posted from ThinkProgress Justice on May 30, 2012 at 5:48 pm

When Gov. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) administration distributed its controversial lists of possible non-citizen voters last month, state statute required the state’s 67 county supervisors of elections to send out letters requiring those voters to prove their eligibility to vote within 30 days — a window that will end in the next couple of weeks in many counties. But a ThinkProgress survey of several county supervisors in Florida reveals that the lists of presumed non-eligible voters is riddled with errors. In large and small jurisdictions across the state, supervisors have found that a large number of the voters on the list are indeed eligible voters.

(Click the graphic to enlarge)

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall told ThinkProgress that she and the state’s 66 other county elections supervisors sent a “clear message” to the Scott administration at a Tampa conference two weeks ago. “One after another, [they] got up and talked about inaccuracies [in the state’s voter purge list of alleged non-citizen voters].”

In Miami-Dade, the count of voters whose citizenship status has been challenged by the Scott administration numbered in the hundreds. With time left to respond, nearly a quarter of those sent letters in have already proven their eligibility.

Several smaller counties also confirmed to ThinkProgress that voters have proven that their inclusion on the list was in error.

In Clay County, near Jacksonville, the elections supervisor received two names from the state. One proved citizenship; the other was purged from the rolls for not responding within 30 days. Charlotte County (two out of nine) and Bradford County (two out of nine) also reported significant percentage of errors on the state’s list.

Citrus County Supervisor of Elections Susan Gill (R), who serves a Tampa-area county with a population of just about 140,000, received just three names from the state that it deemed likely non-citizens. But already two of those have produced documentation to verify their citizenship and voter eligibility. One of the two was even born in New York State. The third voter, who has yet to respond to a registered letter, has never even voted.

Gill told ThinkProgress:

Everybody thinks we vote in a computer world. When you do any sort of data matches, you need several data points to make a good match. When the state first sent these 2,600 to us, some of the matches didn’t have enough information. We’re required by law to send a letter … and unfortunately they have to prove their citizenship. Some of them weren’t terribly happy. The state needs to find a better way to do the data matches.

Before the state sends out lists challenging the eligibility of voters — putting the onus on lawfully registered citizens to re-prove their eligibility — it has an obligation to be certain that that list is valid. Clearly, it did not do so here.

The purge of fully eligible voters from the voting rolls by Scott could be enough to tip the balance in Florida and, perhaps, the presidential election. In 2000, the final (disputed) margin was just 537 votes.

Tell Rick Scott to stop his Florida voter purge by adding your name here.

GOP Candidate Who Flirted With Birtherism Claims Comments Had ‘Nothing To Do With Obama’

By Igor Volsky on May 30, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Michigan Senate candidate Peter Hoekstra (R) defended his flirtation with birtherism during an appearance on CNN this afternoon and claimed that his proposal to establish a government panel to ensure that future presidential candidates are born in the United States is unrelated to the false allegations that President Obama was born in Kenya. “This has nothing to do about Barack Obama, this has nothing to do about the past, this is all looking forward,” he said. Moments later, however, he failed to affirm that Obama’s birth certificate is real and merely insisted that nobody has “discredited” its authenticity. Asked why he was proposing to further expand the role of the federal government, Hoekstra explained, “I’m all about solutions.” Watch it:

“I’m not participating in [the birther] debate,” Hoekstra added. “I think that this issue has been settled.” He also said that he saw “no connection at all” between this proposal and his racist ad depicting a Chinese worker mockingly thanking Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

NEWS FLASH

Pro-GOP Outside Groups Outspending Key Senate Democratic Candidates And Allies By Three-To-One Margin | In yet another sign that the Supreme Court’s controversial 5-4 Citizens United ruling has tilted the playing field toward secretive groups and billionaire businessmen, a new Bloomberg analysis reveals Sen. Sherod Brown (D-OH) and Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D-VA) are being massively outspent by right-wing Super PACs and 501(c)(4)s. Right-wing political groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS have spent at least $8 million against Brown, compared to just $2.5 million on television advertising spent by the Democratic incumbent and allied groups. In Virginia, the Chamber of Commerce and others have so far outspent former Gov. Kaine and his allies by a $1.9 million to $385,000 margin.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Transfers $160,000 In Campaign Contributions To Mysterious Legal Defense Fund

By Annie-Rose Strasser on May 30, 2012 at 2:19 pm

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is diverting campaign donations to bankroll his legal defense fund. For what charges does he need a legal defense? He won’t say.

Walker’s latest campaign finance report reveals that he recently made two transfers totaling $100,000 toward a fund meant to protect him from a “John Doe” corruption investigation.

The three-year long investigation is targeting Walker employees who may have committed a host of corrupt activities — accusations include embezzlement, coercion, and use of taxpayer funds for campaign work. According to the Huffington Post, “Mike Tate, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, says state law permits Walker to set up such a fund only if he is charged or under investigation for election or campaign violations.”

No one knows exactly if any allegations have been leveled against Walker, or what those might be. However, at the beginning of this year, a Walker appointee and staffer were both arrested and charged with felony embezzlement. Another Walker supporter — one of his funders — was convicted with exceeding campaign spending limits. Whatever Walker’s legal exposure, he is concerned enough to divert substantial campaign funds to his legal defense just days before the election.

Walker previously made another huge transfer of cash into the fund to pay his legal defense. The AP reports:

Walker’s latest campaign finance report filed with the state on Tuesday shows transfers of $70,000 and $30,000 out of his campaign account to the Scott Walker Trust. He previously transferred $60,000 into the account.

His Democratic challenger in Tuesday’s recall election Tom Barrett has repeatedly called on Walker to disclose who is paying for his legal defense fund. Walker has refused to say.

The Governor is required by law to have donors sign off on a transfer of funds, but the Walker campaign will not reveal who those people are. It has been a contentious issue in the lead up to the June 5 recall election, in which Walker has recently found himself in a dead heat, according to some polling. Other pools show Walker with a narrow lead.

NEWS FLASH

17,000 People Sign Petition Asking Birther-Curious Arizona Official To Investigate Whether Romney Is A Unicorn | Last week, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, the state’s top elections official, threatened to kick President Obama off the state’s ballot until Hawai’i once again reiterated that Obama was born in that state. In response to Bennett’s flirtation with birtherism, 17,000 people signed a petition asking him to also investigate whether presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a unicorn. While it remains to be seen whether such an investigation will reveal that the former Massachusetts governor is indeed a fantastical horned beast similar in appearance to a horse, it’s not clear whether Romney would be permitted to run for president if he is indeed a unicorn. The Romney campaign is likely to rely on the candidate’s past statements about corporations, and claim that “unicorns are people, my friend.”

Rep. Allen West: ‘Let’s Talk About The President Doing Blow And Smoking Dope’

By Scott Keyes on May 30, 2012 at 11:39 am

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) revived President Obama’s drug use from three decades ago during a town hall yesterday, imploring the crowd to discuss “the president doing blow.”

West was asked by a constituent in Boca Raton about charges that he’d assaulted an Iraqi police officer while serving in 2003. He deflected the question and then proceeded to bring up the fact that then-college student Barack Obama had once done drugs.

“So if you guys want to go back and talk about what happened nine years ago for me, let’s talk about the president doing blow, and smoking dope,” West said, to applause.

QUESTIONER: Please release your Article 15 conviction.

WEST: I was not convicted of anything. I think everyone knows what happened. I mean if you guys have a problem with the fact that people were out there planning to kill my soldiers and I found a guy, I put a pistol, shot over his head, and they weren’t killing my soldiers anymore. If you guys have a problem with that, you need to go talk to someone else, because if I’m in that exact same situation, I’m making the same decision for those men and women. [...] So if you guys want to go back and talk about what happened nine years ago for me, let’s talk about the president doing blow, and smoking dope.

Watch it:

To be clear, West is comparing formal charges that he’d violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice by threatening a detainee’s life to a college student doing drugs 30 years ago. West was fined $5,000 for the incident and retired the next summer from “a successful 22-year military career that seemed destined for further advancement.”

Justice

Romney Touts Constitutional Amendment Disqualifying Eisenhower, Roosevelt and McCain From Being President

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on May 30, 2012 at 11:19 am

Too inexperienced to be president

At a campaign rally in Las Vegas yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touted the idea of making anyone who does not have a business background as ineligible for the White House as if they had been born in Kenya:

“I was speaking with one of these business owners who owns a couple of restaurants in town,” Romney said. “And he said ‘You know I’d like to change the Constitution, I’m not sure I can do it,’ he said. ‘I’d like to have a provision in the Constitution that in addition to the age of the president and the citizenship of the president and the birthplace of the president being set by the Constitution, I’d like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he could become president of the United States.‘”

Romney continued: “You see then he or she would understand that the policies they’re putting in place have to encourage small business, make it easier for business to grow.

Watch it:

Romney’s amendment would come as quite a shock to the last person to earn the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958 and served more than two decades in the United States Navy, including more than five years as an prisoner of war. After retiring from the Navy at the rank of captain, McCain turned to politics and was elected to the House in 1983 and to the Senate in 1987. Because McCain devoted his life to serving his country, rather than to working in business, the Romney amendment would disqualify him from the White House.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower would likely suffer a similar fate. Like McCain, Eisenhower was a career officer before entering politics, graduating from West Point in 1915 and eventually commanding the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. It’s not clear whether Romney’s amendment would count the time Eisenhower spent as President of Columbia University as “working in business,” and Eisenhower did work two years supervising the night shift at a creamery before entering college. Unless Romney would allow Eisenhower to count his time in academia as business experience, however, Eisenhower lacked the three years required to become president under the Romney amendment. Saving human civilization from Adolf Hitler is not a sufficient qualification.
Read more

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Economy

Romney Economic Adviser Says Romney Plans To Undermine Consumer Protections In Wall Street Reform Law

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on May 30, 2012 at 9:25 am

Mitt Romney, who last night secured the Republican presidential nomination with his win in Texas’ primary, has already made clear his desire to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, enacted in response to the financial crisis of 2008. But according to Glenn Hubbard, one of Romney’s economic advisers, even if Romney can’t get rid of the law wholesale, he’d still like to dismantle important aspects of it:

For example, he said Mr. Romney would propose:

– replacing the new system for dismantling failing financial companies that was created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law with a new system, which he declined to specify.

– a new system of consumer financial regulation that either moves the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau outside of the Federal Reserve or breaks up the new agency and places the powers within existing financial regulators.

That Romney would break up and disperse the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s duties amongst existing financial regulators shows just how little he cares to address the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

After all, it was the fact that consumer protection responsibilities were dispersed throughout the regulatory system — and were no regulator’s primary responsibility — that allowed banks to get away with so much pernicious behavior. The creation of the CFPB was meant to address this problem, giving consumers at least one regulator explicitly tasked with looking out for their interests.

Romney, of course, has been raking in money from Wall Street interests who fought the creation of the Bureau tooth and nail. Back in January, Romney called the Bureau the “most powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy in the history of our nation” and falsely claimed that it is “headed by a powerful and unaccountable bureaucrat with unprecedented authority over the economy.”

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NEWS FLASH

Peggy Noonan: Donald Trump Is ‘Part Of The Freak Show’ | Wall Street Journal columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan has condemned the Romney campaign for associating with birther Donald Trump. “My view is that the Romney campaign made a mistake,” she said Tuesday morning on CBS. “There was a certain freak show atmosphere to the Republican primaries in the past six months or so. Now that’s kind of over, the show is over. Mr. Romney wins the nomination tonight. Texas will put him over the top. This is a good time to differentiate himself with the stranger aspects of the Republican race.” She added, “One way you don’t do it, I think, is do a fundraiser with Donald Trump. He was part of the freak show aspect.” Watch it:

On Sunday, Washington Post columnist George Will described Trump as a ”bloviating ignoramus.”

Economy

Sen. Scott Brown Touts Vote For Wall Street Reform In Ad, Neglects To Mention How He Watered It Down

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on May 29, 2012 at 4:30 pm

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R), in the face of a challenge from Wall Street reformer Elizabeth Warren, has been going out of his way to claim that he has been tough on the nation’s banks. Case in point, a recent ad released by his campaign prominently claims that he was “the tie-breaking vote on Wall Street reform“:

The problem with Washington is that people down there are always battling. That’s not how I operate. We’re Americans first, and I’ll work with anyone to get things done. I was the tie-breaking vote on Wall Street reform.

Watch it:

Brown did cross the aisle to vote with Democrats to approve the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. However, what the ad neglects to mention is the role Brown played in significantly watering the down the law, which has landed him heaps of Wall Street cash.

Brown was instrumental in weakening the Volcker Rule, which was meant to rein in risky trading with federally backed dollars by the nation’s biggest banks. He also forced Democrats to strip from the law a $19 billion bank tax. Without that provision, the Congressional Budget Office is now bizarrely claiming that the law has a “cost” of about $20 billion, a score which Republicans have seized upon as justification for their efforts to repeal the law entirely.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, employees from the securities and investment industries have given more money to Brown than those of any other industry. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, which just lost billions of dollars on the sort of trading that the Volcker Rule was originally meant to curtail, are amongst his top ten donors.

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Climate Progress

Romney Campaigns Against Green Jobs While Solar Industry Is ‘Flourishing’ In His Home State

By Rebecca Leber posted from Climate Progress on May 29, 2012 at 3:29 pm

The Romney campaign released yet another ad today on Solyndra and the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program. Romney’s ad repeats the same half-truths and lies about stimulus funding that factcheckers have repeatedly debunked.

During the campaign, Romney has routinely dismissed the nation’s 3.1 million clean energy jobs while intensifying his attacks on the industry. Ironically, the clean energy industry is booming in his home state of Massachusetts, creating 64,000 jobs across the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.

In a story published over the weekend, the Boston Globe highlights how solar is “flourishing” in his home state:

In the past two years alone, solar energy-generating capacity in the state has more than doubled to 105 megawatts, ­according to the state Department of Energy Resources. That’s enough to power at least 15,750 homes.

The number of solar installation firms in the state has also exploded, to nearly 200 last year from about 43 in 2007. In total, state energy officials estimate that more than 1,300 solar energy firms — installers, manufacturers, and others — operate in Massachusetts, employing about 14,000.

In addition, Massachusetts has created a market for solar renewable energy credits, which solar project owners can sell to power plant operators to meet state regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.

The money from those sales helps further lower the cost of solar power.

Such policies have made solar economically competitive in the state, despite less than optimal sun, said Jim Dumas, principal at Solect Inc., a Hopkinton company with 10 employees. Solect is currently installing a 475-kilowatt solar system atop a commercial building in Northborough.

In April, the Center for American Progress filmed a short documentary on the explosion of activity in Massachusetts’ clean energy sector.

Even while solar grows quickly in Massachusetts, helping grow new businesses, Romney’s plan would reduce investments in clean energy. He would strike subsidies, loans, and research for the clean energy industry — all while endorsing a House GOP budget that maintains subsidies for oil and coal giants.

Despite a year of investigation finding no evidence of political misconduct, the GOP has hammered away at Solyndra. American Crossroads is up with its own ad today on Solyndra, following an earlier fact-challenged ad from its affiliate Crossroads GPS.

Factcheckers have called every one of these ads bogus. The Washington Post FactChecker labeled these ads a “depressing duty” because the same “erroneous assertions” had been debunked years ago. And Politifact gave a “false” to the claim that Solyndra contributed to higher gas prices.

In fact, an independent review of the loan guarantee program that supported Solyndra found that it will cost $2 billion less than originally anticipated.

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Dirty Tricks In Wisconsin: Secret Group Shuts Down Phones Of Scott Walker’s Democratic Challenger With Spam Texts

By Scott Keyes on May 29, 2012 at 3:16 pm

One week before Wisconsinites vote on whether or not to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), a conservative group is engaged in dirty tricks that have shut down the Democratic challenger’s campaign phones.

According to multiple reports, independently verified by ThinkProgress, the following spam text message is being blasted out to many Wisconsin cell phones:

FRM:WI@obamasaliar.com
SUBJ:Union Puppet
MSG:Tom Barrett is a Union Puppet who will give Union Thugs everything they want. Call & ask why 414-271-8050

The phone number is that of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s campaign headquarters. The influx of calls following this spam text message has shut down phones at Barrett’s campaign, just seven days before Election Day and right as get-out-the-vote efforts are ramping up.

If you live in Wisconsin and have received this message or have any tips about its origin, leave a comment below.

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Politics

Romney Surrogate Claims Campaign Ignored ‘The Attack On Mrs. Romney’ From Hilary Rosen

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Politics on May 29, 2012 at 2:20 pm

Mitt Romney surrogate Frmr. Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) defended the governor’s upcoming fundraiser with birther Donald Trump during an appearance on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Tuesday afternoon, insisting that the campaign will use the event to focus on economic issues. Asked if Romney would have criticized President Obama had he appeared alongside a controversial supporter, Talent suggested that it would not and even claimed that Romney avoided weighing in on Hilary Rosen’s claim that Ann Romney “has actually never worked a day in her life“:

MITCHELL: If president Obama were to appear with a prominent fund-raiser who said things as outrageous as what Donald Trump said again today, would you in the Romney campaign let it go?

TALENT: We’d keep focusing on the main subject of the campaign is and we’ve done that. Every time the president trying to get off to something different like the attack of Governor Romney because of his dogs or the attack on Mrs. Romney we keep going back to what’s important… Every time the campaign or something comes up on the other side that does that, we keep going back to the main issues because campaigns shouldn’t be about the horse race. They ought to be about what’s important to the American people and that’s what Governor Romney’s going to stick with.

Watch it:

The facts tell a different story, however. Within an hour of Rosen’s remarks in April, Romney’s wife Ann joined Twitter and personally condemned Rosen. The following day, the campaign deployed a series of surrogates to slam the pundit in conference calls with reporters and press releases, while Ann appeared on Fox News. The campaign and its conservative allies demanded — and won — public condemnations of Rosen from the Obama campaign, the DNC, prominent Democrats, and even President Obama himself. Ann Romney later described Rosen’s remarks as a political “gift,” noting, “It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it.”

Rosen, unlike Trump, was never part of the Obama campaign, yet the Romney people insisted that Obama apologize for her comments. They’re now taking a different tact with Trump, proving that Romney is willing to embrace supporters who spew lies and misinformation so he can raise money and appeal to the most conspiracy-minded conservatives.

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Politics

George Will Speaks Out Against Romney’s Association With Trump: ‘What Is Romney Seeking?’

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Politics on May 27, 2012 at 12:27 pm

Conservatives are starting to question the Romney campaign’s association with Donald Trump, the reality TV star who in recent days has ramped up his claims that President Obama was born in Kenya. Mitt Romney is holding a fundraiser with Trump later this month, and his advisers have defended the event by insisting that “a candidate can’t be responsible for everything that their supporters say.” They insist that the former Massachusetts governor “accepts the fact that [Obama] was born in Hawaii.”

But the campaign’s wink and nod to the birther crowd is unmistakable and this morning, during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, columnist George Will slammed Romney for sharing a stage with the self-promoting businessman. Describing Trump as a ”bloviating ignoramus,” Will said, “I do not understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is gonna vote for him [Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me”:

WILL: Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics. Again, I don’t understand the benefit. What is Romney seeking?

Watch it:

Trump endorsed Romney at an event in February and has since been used extensively in primary states to bash Romney’s opponents. In March, Ann Romney called him an “honorary Buckeye” after the campaign’s victory in Ohio.

On Friday, Romney adviser Kevin Madden said Romney will “stand up next to Donald Trump and he’ll talk about why he wants to be president.” “Anytime the subject goes off of that, or if something where …Governor Romney would disagree, he’s going to make that very clear,” Madden claimed, but did not say if Romney would rebuke the birther conspiracy in front of Trump. Given his resistance to confronting the right, however, that appears more than a little unlikely.

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